TiVo revenues up 33% ‘we’ll keep Virgin’

February 27, 2013

DVR specialist TiVo, helped by further growth in take-up at Virgin Media, is reporting revenues that have risen 33 per cent in its Q4 trading – and “exceeding management guidance”. Revenue rose to $88.9 million (up from $66.5 million a year ago).

Subscriber numbers rose from 2.28 million to 3.15 million, but TiVo also reported a return to losses. A year ago it reported net profits of $7 million, but this latest quarter-year turned into losses of $16 million. The losses are down to higher legal expenses spent of protecting its claimed patent rights.

Though the settlements have helped TiVo’s results, the company is still embroiled in other lawsuits, including one against Motorola’s set-top box division. Tom Rogers, TiVo’s chief executive, said in an interview that costs from that lawsuit were larger than expected during the quarter due to a lengthy (legal) discovery processes.

For the current quarter, the TV set-top box maker projected revenues would rise another 10 per cent to 13 per cent. Shares were up 2.3 per cent to $12.70.

Meanwhile, Rogers says he expects the preserve the relationship with Virgin Media, despite its sale to Liberty Global. Liberty has spent heavily on developing its own Horizon platform and is in the process of rolling out the technology across UPC in Europe.